A Model XMan
by JollyHooligan
Summary: Jean Grey and Scott Summers are sent by Professor X to recruit a mutant who has the ability to unite humanity and mutantkind. Can they get to him before Magneto? Will he agree to battle for the forces of good and bring peace to the world?
1. Interrupted Ruminations

**A Model X-Man**

Scott Summers and Jean Grey walked side by side along the nearly-empty pavement of New York City. Jean clutched nervously at her bag as the two walked in silence. If Scott was feeling any discomfort, he had hidden it perfectly. With the sound of each footfall, Jean became increasingly nervous. It wasn't often that the X-Men failed to notice someone who had developed powers, and it was rarer still for that someone to have passed their twenties without being discovered. But this case was different.

She could still feel Professor Xavier's eyes burning into her, communicating the urgency and importance of their mission.

"This could be the one."

A mutant with a power so great that, not only would they be able to defeat Magneto's regime, but they could also win over those who feared and reviled mutants. A mutant who could herald an era of peace…

But the situation was complicated. The man had reached adulthood – he had a career, a family, and a comfortable, glamorous life. Should they approach him in the wrong way and frighten him off – or worse, send him toward Magneto's camp – the results could be disastrous. Jean was often nervous about approaching those who didn't know about their powers because she remembered the pain and denial that it brought for her. How it had forced her to realize and come to terms with the fact that when she felt she was different, unlike most children, she actually was. With the implications of this man's power, however, the pressure and feelings intensified.

Finally, she couldn't hold it back anymore.

"Scott, what will we do if he rejects us?" She turned to him, her red ponytail trailing like a comet.

"We'll worry about that when it happens. We have to stay focused and treat it like any other case. Thinking about his potential will only make us more likely to alienate him. Treat him like the others and hope it goes for the best." He replied curtly in a way that was uncharacteristic of him.

_So the pressure is getting to him, too._ She felt relieved not to be alone.

They approached the graveyard, knowing that it was never the best time to visit someone here, but also knowing that there was virtually no other way to approach him in public.

As they came upon the row of three graves, they found the man kneeling to lay a beautiful bouquet of lilies at the foot of a large statue, which depicted three young men dancing about with gasoline pumps. Clearly his wife and child had already gone home.

Noticing the sound of their approach, the man stood and turned abruptly to face them. The intensity of his icy blue eyes accented by his smooth, porcelain skin and jet-black hair struck them full force, and it was all either of them could do to prevent themselves from gasping aloud at the sheer majesty of his face. He pursed his lips in confusion.

"What do you want?" He asked in a smooth, tenor voice.

"We're sorry to have approached you at such in inopportune time, but we have very important information that you need to discuss with you." Scott began, sounding very serious.

His left eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Is it about the academy?"

"No. I'm afraid it's much more important than that." Jean sighed, looking almost apologetic.

"More important than teaching children to read good?" His other eyebrow raised and he looked saddened at the very thought.

"It may very well be. I'll be blunt: you may be the key to a peaceful future between humanity and all of mutant kind. You, Derek Zoolander, have a power so special and vital that it could prevent a war." Scott explained.

"You mean, being really, really, really, really, really-"

"Ridiculously good looking, yes." Jean cut him off in the interests of time.

Although he looked pensive, Jean detected nothing inside of his gorgeously vapid head.

"I need some time to think." He said at last. "I'm a male model, and that comes with duties to all of mankind. I have to weigh the needs of the many against the needs of the world." He gave an emotive, desperate look, "I can only give so much!"

Then, running with his arms swinging side to side like a girl, he sobbed in a sweet falsetto.

"…" Scott had no idea what to say.

"That was slightly incomprehensible." Jean put a hand to her temples. "But he's just so beautiful."

"I didn't follow him…what's the issue here?"

Jean had a sudden premonition.

"Derek, LOOK OUT!" She yelled as there was the loud crack of a massive tree breaking.

Derek looked up in time for his blue eyes to widen in confused surprise as an ancient elm tree began to fall on top of him. Were it not for the quick action of Jean Grey using her telekinesis to push it out of the way, he would have been killed for sure.

Any question as to the identity of the assailant was swiftly answered.

"So it is true." Sabertooth intoned darkly, glaring at the three with menacing, hungry eyes. "But I see his power isn't fully realized." He grinned, putting one foot up on the splintered tree stump.

Gene stood at the ready as Scott reached for his glasses.

"What do you want?" Derek asked.

"What I want depends on what you want." Sabertooth smiled ominously. "If you want to come with me, then I'll take you to my _employer_, who is a very powerful man. If you want to go with them, then I'll kill you."

Derek's eyes widened in surprise and fear.

"What?" He whispered.

"Don't listen to him, Derek! He represents the side of those who want to destroy humanity in order for mutant kind to rule the world." Scott's hand was paused halfway to his sunglasses, painfully aware that Sabertooth had his eyes on both of them with his claws poised, ready to strike Derek at a moment's notice.

"Think carefully about what you want, Derek. Do you want to live in peace with humans, or do you want to destroy them?" Jean, getting a feel for Derek's character, used small words and simple phrases.

"I…I…." He raised his eyebrows in helplessness and pursed his lips. "I only wanted to help people by looking really, really, really, really, _really_ ridiculously good looking!" He cried. "Why must others fight over me?"

As he weakly pounded his immaculate fists against the well-kept cemetery grass and cried tears of feeling, the two factions stood facing each other waiting. The outcome of his decision would determine how much bloodshed this encounter would generate.

_Come on, Derek._ Jean thought tensely. _The world needs you now_.


	2. Small World

After a few moments of tense silence broken by Derek's heaving sobs, Sabertooth, not surprisingly, started to lose his temper.

"Come on! Make your choice!" He snarled, his fingers twitching.

Derek cried out mournfully into the grass, "It's all too much! First I lose my friends in a tragic gasoline fight and now I am forced into choosing how to use my awesome powers!"

"Derek, you're going to have to act – we don't have time." Scott snapped, hand poised on his shades.

"Grh! Forget this!" Sabertooth snarled. "There's no way he could be as powerful as everyone says. And even if he is, if he's dead at least Xavier can't use him!"

In a flash, his muscles rippled and he leapt. Arms outstretched, he prepared to sink his claws into Derek's throat. Derek fell back in alarm as Scott fired a blast from his eyes. He missed and splintered a nearby aspen, and although Jean didn't quite succeed in halting the solid villain, she managed to deflect him into a large marble statue of an angel. The statue crumbled and Derek numbly regained his footing, scrambling to get away from this strange and fantastical battle. Having lived in the insular world of supermodels, he had no idea that mutants even existed - much less the awareness of the existing tension between mutants and humans.

Scott fired off a few more blasts hoping to catch Sabertooth unaware, but only succeeding in shattering the expensive tombstones that local families had paid a small fortune for in order to remember their dearly departed loved ones. Sabertooth roared in outrage,

"It's going to take a lot more than that to end this!" and charged Scott, knocking him forcefully to the ground.

Turning the young man forcefully onto his belly, he held Scott's face and ground it into the grass. Scott had never fancied the smell of lawn clippings and found this new development unappealing.

"JEAN!" He yelled, mostly muffled by a mouthful of turf.

Jean, having used up her usefulness for the episode, decided that it would be a great idea to levitate a large chunk of the statue into Sabertooth. Aware of this, Sabertooth bodily threw Scott at his beloved. They met with a resounding crack and the two fell over, stunned. Derek, only slightly behind the dazed pair, stared at the rapid battle in wide-eyed horror. What was happening?

"Say good night, pretty boy!" Sabertooth tossed out a painful one-liner.

He charged in for the finishing blow.

"Wait!" Derek dove in between the two in a surge of desperate courage.

Even if he died, he wanted to do what he could to save these two people who had risked their lives to protect him. At this revelation, a strange feeling of power welled up within him and he felt himself stand tall. He turned to face Sabertooth full on, a stunned yet beautiful look on his face. He pursed his lips and struck a pose in his tight, pleather pants which perfectly matched his autumn palette flight jacket with faux fur collar. Sabertooth slowed down to a light jog, confused and slightly stupefied by what was happening. As the heels of Derek's shiny black loafers clicked together, a strange light emitted from his face in a powerful ray that seemed to engulf everything around him. Scott and Jean, struggling to regain their senses behind Derek, were spared the full brunt of this strange emission. Sabertooth was struck full on by the pure gaze of this lean young man and the wave of light was so dazzling that he wished to shield his eyes, but couldn't because he would miss the sight of that beautiful face!

"Dear God, it's magnificent!" He breathed.

Gradually, the light faded and Derek was left standing in his stupid model pose with a desperate yet exquisite expression, breathing heavily from the exertion. Jean and Scott managed to prop themselves up into a sitting position, quite confused. Finally leaping to her feet ahead of Scott, Jean prepared for Sabertooth's next onslaught. But it never came.

Sabertooth had stopped completely, the force and reason for his actions lost now in the face of the true beauty he had just witnessed. His body sagged, still immobilized by sheer wonder.

"Why?" He rasped in a tired, defeated voice, "Why didn't Magneto tell me that such wonder and beauty existed in this world? Why did he show me only the darkest of the dark when there was such light?"

His eyes stared ahead as though he were looking through time. He wore the expression of one who had comprehended the incomprehensible.

"Um…" Scott began, but was interrupted again.

"RARGH!" Sabertooth screamed in agony.

Jean, uncertain, again readied herself for an attack.

"Why didn't anyone tell me I was so _**ugly**_?" Sabertooth cried. "That my spandex costume was so hideous and that I was wearing my hair _in a __**mullet**_?" He grabbed his head, his world now reeling with his new found enlightenment.

"There's nothing wrong with spandex." Scott muttered under his breath.

"Why would Magneto pick such a look for me? He said that it looked great! That it unified the team! I see now that it was a LIE! A hideous lie meant to lead me away from the truth and into his treacherous grasp." Sabertooth continued to howl as though he were undergoing vivisection. Or being neutered without anesthesia.

"There, there." Derek offered in a kind yet stupid way.

"NO!" Sabertooth batted away Derek's comforting hand and turned away from that creature of such grace. "How can I face the world – how can I face YOU – after I know what majesty can truly exist? Why am I even here?" He roared, muscles straining and fingers flexing. "I DON'T WANT TO LIVE AS A MONSTER IN SUCH A WORLD AS THIS!" He screamed, practically hysterical.

Before anyone could stop him, he plunged his chest onto the splintered ends of the tree trunk whilst taking a cyanide pill. The large, sharp splinters punctured his heart and he died instantly somehow.

The remaining three stared at his remains in silent, numb horror. Jean turned away and Derek looked at his hands, fearing the carnage that he had just caused.

"The Professor was right." Scott felt sick. "What a frightening, horrible power."

Derek fell over in a swoon, losing consciousness.


	3. Familiar Hatred

_I'm really sorry for the delay! After exams were finished, I procrastinated and then I was evacuated from Japan by my university. Then they canceled my program halfway through the year and I've been either sick or filling out paperwork ever since. :S It's nice to have a little respite. Things seem more or less stable, so I'll do my best to have regular updates. :)_

_It's not true to the movie, but I grew up with 1990s animated series Wolverine. Please excuse my choice in his speech. ^^;_

* * *

There was a faint buzzing at first, drilling angrily away at the concrete wall of Derek's unconsciousness. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fortify his coma-like experience any more than he already had by living his vapid, coma-like life. His face twitched in a micro expression of concentration. A new record.

At this sign of near-wakefulness, sounds began to intensify. Gradually, they became clearer and clearer to the point that he could hear the faint whirring and beeping of sleek, chrome, otherwise nondescript electronic medical equipment. And a voice.

"Derek? Derek Zoolander?"

It was a somewhat familiar voice. Where had he heard it befo-

Derek's eyes snapped open, locking into focus instantly in his heightened state of alarm. Jean let out a startled cry and took a few steps backward. Usually she could sense something like that coming, but his mind was just so…unreadable. Clicking a few steps further away as Derek abruptly sat up like a Frankenstein's monster, she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart as he swung those wide, innocent blue eyes to gaze at her.

"I-I'm sorry. You startled me." She gave a sigh, putting a hand against her chest.

"Who are you?" His lips pursed into a tiny, tiny frown of child-like confusion.

"Oh, how rude of me." The toned redhead put down a clipboard and tugged at her white lab coat. "I'm Jean Grey. We met earlier under…unexpected circumstances."

"I'm very pleased to make your acquaintancesessship." Derek smoothly dropped from the medical bed to the floor like a sleek panther. "But please tell me, Miss Grey, why I've been abdicated."

"Well, it's Doctor actually…" Jean quietly coughed into her hand before continuing. "You passed out from the sheer exertion of using your fantastic powers, so we brought you here to help you recover. I apologize, usually the Professor would be here to speak with you, but he's otherwise engaged at the moment." The dark intonation was lost on Derek and he continued to listen, while staring intently at her face.

Jean noticed this and tried to ignore it by continuing, "We want to explain your powers to you and answer any questions you might have. Also, although we wouldn't normally bring this up so early, we have a matter of grave importance that must- I'm sorry?"

During the course of her speech, Derek had advanced on her – still staring intently. Jean, like a deer caught in the headlights, stared straight into those startling blue eyes. Her emerald eyes widened as her mouth struggled to speak and her cheeks flushed slightly. Because of his…unique…mind, she couldn't even begin to guess at his intentions.

"Your hair," he began in that light, flowing voice, "pulling it back emphasizes your pronounced cheekbones and gives you a harsh, masculine appearance. Allowing it freedom," before she could react he had already pulled out her moss green scrunchie and done some lightning fast rearrangements to her hair, "lets the natural waves of your hair flirt with the contours of your face, giving you a softer, sensual appearance."

Before she could protest or fear some ulterior motive on his part, he had already begun to retreat from her personal space with a satisfied grin on his face at adding more beauty to the world around him. His retreat was suddenly narrated by a throaty growl.

"**Don't touch her**" The low, gravelly voice accused.

Derek felt something large and heavy crash into him and was whirled around to face a very hairy, angry-looking man. This large man slammed him into the wall with one ham-sized arm pressed against his throat and the other held about a foot away from his face with a clenched fist at the end.

Derek's eyebrows arched like a bridge across his graceful nose, allowing an expression of fear to cross his face. As if his fears of being punched weren't enough, three long, flawless blades extended from between the man's knuckles.

"That's my money maker." Derek whimpered.

"Logan, stop!" Jean pretty much uselessly tried to restrain the man. "You don't know who that is!"

Wolverine turned his creased, angry face for the briefest of moments to address her, allowing Derek a moment's respite. He was too enraged to notice her new complimentary hairstyle.

"I know who it is – and I don't care!" He snarled, revealing surprisingly white and sharp-looking teeth. "In fact," he turned to glare at Derek, "knowing who this pretty boy is makes it even worse."

"I think you could benefit from some toner – it would minimize the appearance of pores and even your skin tone. I have some of my own for emergencies in my man purse if you-" Wolverine slammed Derek against the wall again, preventing him from accessing his emergency beauty supplies.

He might as well have been denying Derek oxygen. Or…his very being.

Derek, though he tried valiantly to resist, felt tears welling up in his eyes with this revelation. He noticed the grizzled chops, the white tank top clinging to a body well-muscled from hard labor. It was just like growing up with his father and his brothers. He saw it there in the man's eyes: the hatred, the judgment…the silent suspicion of lady parts.

Although he had recently gained some degree of acceptance from his remaining family, long-standing relationships take time and constant effort to change. Derek suddenly looked at Logan and saw the challenge to learn to break into a world relatively unknown to him – the world of coal miners.

Logan, his arm pressing deeper into Derek's throat and claws itching to carve some humility into his panty-waist face, was suddenly taken aback by an abrupt clarity that struck the svelt man's features.

"I understand that my strange ways bring you fear, but I am from a world much like yours. I have surpassed it and now have found my mission to reach out to people like you – not only as an untapped source of income, but also as a prime demographic of people who don't know how to read good." Although vaguely aware that the man was spouting utter nonsense, Logan felt almost hyptnotised by the gentle rise and fall of the smaller man's voice. His grip loosened and Derek stepped free.

"I want to help you." He reached out, a simple smile on his face.

Logan felt this gentle, healing touch long before it ever threatened to brush against his skin. It touched him somewhere deep, deep inside where he was unprotected by his adamantium skeleton and mutant healing powers – his feelings.

After a brief moment of vulnerable shock, his grizzled, hardboiled demeanor snapped closed like a rusted iron trap.

"Getcher stinkin' mitts offa me, bub." He slapped Derek's hand out of the way and stomped from the room.

"Wow." Jean looked after him in shock. "I've never seen anyone get to him like that."

Derek only looked after him in vague sadness, having no idea what had just happened. Jean's eyebrows knitted together in concern. To be able to get that response out of _Wolverine _so quickly…was it possible that Derek was growing even more powerful every time he used his gifts of beauty?

"Jean?" Scott's voice broke her out of her reverie.

Derek turned around and smiled in greeting at the familiar face.

"Ah, there you are, Derek." Scott smiled back and walked briskly across the room to shake his hand. "I'm Scott Summers."

Before Derek could respond, he turned back to Jean.

"The Professor will be back soon and wants to discuss something with you." He paused and turned to Derek, "With both of you."

Derek could only wonder what a professor would want with him.

"Does he want to teach at my institute?"

Jean and Scott took a moment to look at each other in disbelief. What the hell were they going to do with this guy?

"No, Derek," Scott began, "as we may have mentioned earlier while being attacked by a superhuman gargantuan, there are slightly more important things than teaching kids to read good right now."

Derek nodded.

Hoping they wouldn't have to talk to him anymore, Jean and Scott hurried off to Professor Xavier's office with Derek in tow.

However, while passing through the atrium Derek noticed Logan sitting outside in the brisk fall weather broodingly smoking a cigar. Derek's eyes widened in a sudden flash of recognition.

"Wait right here!" His breathy, light voice betrayed his urgency.

Before Jean and Scott could follow, Derek had sprinted for the corridor where the door to the smoking area was, and Professor X had wheeled out of his office.

"There he goes again." Scott griped, preparing to haul him in by the ears if he had to.

"Wait, Scott." Professor Xavier held up a hand in a halting gesture and Scott immediately obeyed.

"Professor?" Jean raised an eyebrow.

"What we have to discuss with Mr. Zoolander can wait a few moments. In the meantime, step into my office. I have seen some things in Cerebro that we must take into account if we are to prevent a war." Professor X said calmly, leading the way back into his office.

As they were about to enter Xavier's office, Jean cast one last glance back at Derek, who had just approached the lone Wolverine. Scott frowned, but pretended that he hadn't noticed. Just what was that daft model thinking, and would Wolverine be able to hold back this time?


End file.
